The First Substitute
by RevolverAptom
Summary: Alastor Shukei has lost all memory of who he is or how he has such immense power and skill thanks to Sosuke Aizen, who kills him afterwards and sends him on a one-way trip to the Soul Society. Now Alastor must solve the mystery of who he really is.
1. Initiation! Who am I?

The Spirits Shukei

Chapter one: Initiation! Who am I?

I winced as the man standing before me smiled pleasantly. He had Chestnut brown hair that was blasted back in a casual style with a strand of hair coming down over his forehead and then ended towards the left side of his head. He also was wearing a kimono type uniform with a white coat over it. He was wearing socks with sandals like he was from some feudal era or something.

He withdrew the hand that had been clasping my forehead. I looked around the room we were in, it seemed to be a room with walls and ceilings colored various shades of gray, and I had no idea where the lighting was coming from. As I began to look past the strange man I noticed another man with a somewhat bitter look on his face looking down at the ground where I lay. He looked very familiar like I had seen him somewhere but it was like the memory was blocked by and internal

e.

I tried to make sense of this but before I could the man in the white coat spoke.

"Please say hello to Momo for me," He said coolly even though his expression betrayed his look of victory. "That is, if you can remember." He finished. Then he broke into a laugh, but it was short lived, seconds later he started to recite an incantation of sorts:"May the storms of heaven obey my commands, may the fury of the gods be bestowed upon my enemies, and may their souls be forever cursed to wander in darkness, and may my body be a vessel for the wrath of the gods. Hado number Ninety-two, Storm Cannon! "

I gave him a funny look for a moment but was amazed to see light building up within his hands that were now thrust outward toward me. The energy began growing until the colorless light manifested into a raging lightening storm in a ball. "This is farewell! Alastor Shukei!" then he fired the blast right at me. The light was so intense it blinded me until all I could see was blackness.

After what seemed like an eternity I finally saw a small orb of white light in the distance. At first I wasn't sure what it was, then it started to get bigger and closer until I could reach out and touch it. I accepted its presence as it seemed to accept me. It then reacted by engulfing my remaining essence and teleported me into the other world.


	2. History Repeats!

It's not the first Time?

The next thing I knew I was in front of an odd looking man sitting behind a desk in a white room without walls. He had bleached hair and a black pointed mustache; he was also wearing a similar uniform the other person was wearing in that weird place I was in. He sighed as I approached him. He held up a hand and spoke.

"Halt," he said blandly, "I am Chōjirō Sasakibe, Lieutenant of The First Division of the Soul Society, I'm sure you have many questions, but first I must ask that you state your name." I could tell by his voice that he was very bored and he had probably said the same thing over a thousand times today. I also noticed the mountain of paperwork he was doing. "Your name sir?" he asked again, hinting that he had no time for my obvious confusion.

"Um…" I hesitated; I didn't know where I was or who I was for that matter. Then I remembered what the man back at the gray room had said: ""This is farewell, Alastor Shukei!" he had said. Is that my name?

"Sir," The man said, growing impatient, "I understand your confusion, believe me I've seen in billions of times, however, any questions I'm sure you have can wait. Now please state your name."

"Uh…Alastor Shukei." I answered unsurely. He looked at me rather skeptically. Then he began rummaging through his stack of papers. He did this for a very long time, until he found what he was looking for.

"Ah-ha!" he declared, "Alastor Shukei, born in 1988, Date of birth January 1, Correct?" I nodded, a little unsure. Chōjirō kept reading the document for while and frowned. "How peculiar," he said puzzlingly, "It says: 'All other information on this person is highly classified.'"

"What's that mean?" I asked curiously.

"It means you're either a very unique person," he sighed, "Or you've been here before." My eyes widened.

"Is that possible?" I asked nervously, I didn't even know where I was or how I got here. Was I dead? Was this a dream?

"My apologies," he said, "I won't know for sure until I speak with my superiors."

"Wait a minute!" I shouted after him as he started to walk away. "What am I supposed to do? What is this place?"

"Oh excuse me," he chuckled while walking over to his desk. "Until further notice, you will be placed in the 9 section of the Rukon District. We will send someone for you when we get this mess straightened out." He stamped a paper on his desk and then continued to walk away from me.

"Wait!" I yelled again.

"Yes, what now?" he yelled back for he was already a several yards away.

"Is this a dream or what?" I asked feeling a little ridiculous after asking.

"No," he smiled, "I'm afraid your dead, you're in the afterlife, or the 'Soul Society' is what we call it here." I watched him walk away in disbelieve until he was a little black dot, then the scenery changed and the white zone dispersed until I was in a bustling street of people in an old settlement with rotting wood and rice paper houses. I quickly got out of the way of the stream of people as they stirred past.


	3. Death: A Unique Experience

Death: A Unique Experience

I sighed as I kept to the side of the main transit, while the people were almost stampeding to get to their destination. Soon the shock of realizing my death gripped me in its grasp, cold and steel. I began to grow agitated, no memory of my past to look back on, I felt like a new born babe starting out into the challenges I would soon face as I grew older. There wasn't even a memory of perhaps a rousing father figure that would pep me up with each inspirational syllable, nothing, was I really all alone in this…world?

In order to take my mind off of such frustrating realizations, I focused on more pressing ones. I noticed I was now wearing a dirty, brown, and not to mention really itchy, robe. I also saw most people wore the same attire. It was all bewilderingly familiar, every time I saw something my mind would point it out, but I had to fatally rack my brain to remember what it was, or where I'd seen it. After developing an annoyance-induced headache I began to see a few people dressed in traditional black robes carrying swords. There were even some that had badges on either side of their arm. I began to marvel the ones I would come across, thinking I had seen them before.

I accidently let a half yell escape my lips as I instinctively called to one in particular, he was tall with striking shiny red hair with a spiked pony tail in the back. He also had strange markings starting from the top of his eyebrows and seemed to continue all the way down to his forearms. He seemed to have realized I had called out to him as he started to walk towards me.

I panicked, this guy looked to be some figure of authority, what had I done? What if he gets upset that I called him over here for no reason other than a moment of in-clarity? I started to sweat as he grew closer and closer until he was right in front of me.

"What do you want?" he said highly, as if he was so much better than me. I could actually smell the pride coming off of him, it made me sick, I wanted to spit but resisted the urge and swallowed my own arrogance to explain to him that it was a misunderstanding.

"I'm…um sorry sir I thought you were someone else…" I admitted. He sighed; his brow was furrowed in aggravation. I again held back the urge to do an unpleasant act, such as slam his face into a nearby building, if I'm fast enough, he won't know what hit him.

"You Rukon dogs," he mumbled shaking his head. "You may not realize this but we soul reapers have important business to attend to at any and all times, I'd appreciate it if you refrain from calling others over here for pointless banters."

"Back down on the bravado." I mumbled under my breath.

"Did you say something?" he said challenging me, daring me to make a scene to humiliate for my supposed arrogance.

"Just who are you?" I asked, trying to take my mind off the anger slowly brewing in my mind. He extended his thumb and raised his arm so he was pointing at himself.

"I'm the Lieutenant of the 6th Division of the Thirteen Court Guard Divisions: Renji Abarai," He introduced formally. "And who might you be?" "I haven't seen you around here before," he began suspiciously "We seldom get new souls in the Rukon District." He started giving me the stink eye.

"What are you lookin' at?" I snapped. He backed off a few steps. He shook his head and straitened his back.

"I asked you a question dog." He said commandingly. I hesitated for a split second, wondering if I should keep using the name I had been using. He gave me a leer that wasn't exactly comforting if I failed to comply. I sighed deeply.

"Alastor Shukei," I said grudgingly. He eyed me up; he then looked around and beckoned to someone in a large crowd in a yonder row. Soon after a young man appeared before us with bleach blond hair, a wave of it shielding one eye, he was also dressed like Renji, with a badge on his arm and a black robe.

"Yes, Lieutenant Abarai?" He answered humbly.

"I need you to go to the R&D facility and talk to Captain Mayuri about a Mr. 'Alastor Shukei'."

"Yes sir." Confirmed the lieutenant, and blurred out of sight. I tried to get past Renji, but he was faster than he looked.

"I don't think so," He said, stopping me half-way. "You're staying with me until Lieutenant Kira comes back with proper authorization to tell me otherwise." I sighed heavily; I suddenly started to feel tired. I found a nice clear spot in the shade, across from Renji and plopped down in the dirt with folded legs.

He walked over to me and stood with his arms folded as he waited patiently. It seemed like hours went past before he spoke.

"You remind me of my captain." He said absently. I looked up at him surprised. His mind was obviously in another place, but he had piqued my interest.

"Who's your captain?" I asked curiously.

"Captain of Division 6; Byakuya Kuchki." He said with a smile of fond memory. Byakuya Kuchki… Byakuya Kuchki… Byakuya Kuchki? That name…so…familiar… It was like it had come from a distant dream that few pieces had returned to. I started to experience random flashed from the past. Meeting all sorts of familiar faces…but with each flash the headache in my brain got larger and a lot more painful. I heard Renji yelling at me to see what was wrong. Soon I had blacked out.


	4. Hidden Ambition

Ambition!

I awoke in a dark room. I slowly rose to see outside the window, it was night. I sighed and began to look around the dark room. From what I could make out, I was in some kind of medical facility. I was lying on a warm cot with white sheets with medicinal herbs nearby. After looking all the way around the room, I saw Lieutenant of the 6th division of the Thirteen Court Guard Divisions, Renji Abarai.

He was snoozing comfortably in a chair close to my bed, probably just in case I woke up and made a run for it. I chuckled at the scenario I had thought up. I jumped as I heard footsteps walking down the hall. I lay back down and closed my eyes as the footsteps grew closer. I heard a gasped from Renji, who had awoken to the sounds of the approaching footsteps, saw who it was.

I heard him stand up hastily as he spoke.

"Oh! Captain Mayuri!" He exclaimed, my eyes were still closed and I kept my breathing slow to make myself look unconscious. "What brings you to the sickbay? There was a silence, for a time, and then the captain spoke.

"We have obtained a few reports on him," he said in a soft and come demeanor. "But we're still not sure yet, there were several reports of a captain named 'Alastor Shukei'." He continued. "Of course these two people cannot be the same, for this soul's reiatsu is not nearly the level of a captain." He pointed out, puzzlement growing in his voice, "also, there are the facts of his missing Zanpakuto and the most important one of all, that if he was a soul at the time, and somehow escaped to the human world…he'd be dead." He finished breathlessly.

After catching his breath he persisted, "But, the main problem of the matter is, well, there is no other record of an Alastor Shukei In existence that fits his distinctive looks and spiritual make up!"

He sighed with frustration.

"So what does this mean Captain?" Renji asked.

"We cannot do anything," He admitted solemnly. "We will release him tomorrow back into the Rukongai."

Renji heaved a sigh. "But what of his condition?" he asked. Captain Mayuri cleared his throat.

"We release him tomorrow." He repeated. I heard Renji scowl as he sat back in his chair when the captain walked away.

The next morning they finished treating my wounds, gave me my clothes, and escorted me out of the sickbay brought me back into the Rukongai. I had no idea what I was going to do now. So I started to walk the streets in search of something I wasn't quite sure of. I walked on and on for so long until I happened upon a gate surrounded by a solid white wall.

I continued to walk towards the faded blue colored gate, when I stopped to marvel the craftsmanship, a large man appeared out of nowhere in a gust of wind.

"I'm sorry, but you cannot enter." He said sounding surprisingly polite. I didn't want to start any trouble on my first day of death, so I apologized before asking what it was he was guarding. "The Seireitei," He answered, as if he got that all the time.

I sighed, he didn't look like he'd let me in, even though my curiosity was piqued. I started to walk away, but then I saw a group of soul reapers approaching the gate the where the big fellow was. I moved aside to see what would happen. The soul reapers stopped at the gate. The giant appeared and noticed their black robes. He grunted, and then asked their position.

I overheard a couple like 'division 11 3rd and 5th seat' the rest were 'guardsmen' or rank less generic soldiers. After mulling it over, I walked over to them shortly after the gates opened. I asked one how I could be a soul reaper. He laughed broadly in my face.


	5. Proving Oneself

Proving Oneself

The man was bald with red face paint next to his eyes; he too wore the soul reaper's cloak. My face remained unchanged as he continued to laugh. He stopped after glancing at my face, suddenly realizing I was serious.

"No," he retorted, "No matter how long you were to attend Soul Reaper Academy, even if it was for the rest of your life, your Reiatsu is…?" he paused Longley. His eyes widened. "Your Reiatsu is…?" he seemed to be concentrating extremely hard. After a while he looked at another soul reaper, and then nodded absently. He then called to a soul reaper who had gotten bored waiting and had started to stray from the group. "Yumichika, get your ass over here." He beckoned.

The other soul reaper scowled. He seemed to have very shiny skin and hair for a guy, and what appeared to be feathers next to his eyes and in his hair.

"What is it Ikkaku?" he said annoyed.

"Find this guy's Reiatsu." He ordered.

"Why?"

"Just do it!" he yelled impatiently.

"Ok ok." He said quickly. He looked at me for a moment, and then nodded, as if he accepted my existence, and after that looked hard at me. It felt like he wasn't look at me, but rather something deeper. After a while his face began to look puzzled, then his eyes grew wide, and he looked at his comrade. The bald soul reaper nodded, his hunch conformed.

"How does… I mean why doesn't he…?" The handsome Soul Reaper stammered almost nervously. I looked back to the bald one, he was eyeing me suspiciously. I started to feel a little uncomfortable. I felt the need to scratch my head suddenly. When my hand rose to scratch my head, the stuttering soul reaper jumped, and the bald one put a hand to his sword. I gave them a bit of an 'Are you serious?' glance. The bald soul reaper's eyes never left me; he seemed to be thinking about what to do next. After a few seconds he declared his decision.

"You don't have any Reiatsu…" he said suddenly, "Souls are composed of Reiatsu, therefore you should have Reiatsu, why don't you?" I gave him the most honest of shrugs. "Fine then," he scowled, "We'll just have to take you to the head captain." His hand reached for mine but then stopped. I looked up at his face; it looked like he had just seen a ghost. I turned around. What I saw was a bit startling. I saw a man wearing white clothes with a black out-line pattern, similar to the clothes the man who ended my life had worn. The startling part was that he had literally torn open a hole in the sky as he stepped through it. He just punched a gap in this dimension like he did it every day. He had shaggy emerald hair to his shoulders, and what appeared to be a stride of bone jutting out of the right side of his face, he had piercing yellow eyes and wore a sword on his right side.

He slowly started to descend downward as the bald soul reaper Ikkaku Drew his sword in a long strike stance. His opponent snickered.

"Soul Reaper," he began, he had a Latino accent "I could kill you before your sword moved from its current position." Ikkaku smiled wickedly.

"I relish the challenge." He confessed. Ikkaku then linked his sword to its sheath, and then said the words: "Extend, _**Hōzukimaru**_!" His linked sword and sheath suddenly fused and then transformed into a long spear with a red poofy thing on one end.

"A challenge you can't win," The contender threatened in a soft voice. Ikkaku charged suddenly, but he didn't get very far. The rival was suddenly in front of him, and then he used his hand to impale Ikkaku in the chest. Ikkaku grunted. Yumichika reacted quickly, transforming his own blade into three sickles; he disappeared, then reappeared next to the monster that still had Ikkaku. He swatted Yumichika away like a bug in his eyes.

He pulled out a hand covered in Ikkaku's blood. Shortly after, Ikkaku fell backwards. After coming out of shock, I noticed he was looking at me. I stepped back, but he was already in front of me. He was Fifteen feet to inches in half a second. I looked up at him. He was smirking down at me. It was odd, he seemed really familiar. His smirk turned into annoyance, as he raised his hand to strike.

"I don't think so," said a voice behind the man. It was Ikkaku! He was barely standing, but he was alive. He had taken of the top part of his black kimono. He threw a purple ball about the same size as a marble in the air. "That should take care of the Gotei suspicions," he turned to the green haired man, "I don't expect you to live, Arrancar, but as for you, kid…" he said referring to me, " You tell anyone of what you're about to see…and I'll kill you." He threatened. He thrust his weapon hard in front of him horizontally. He was concentrating very hard. Then he yelled, "Ban-Kai!" his spear fused together and exploded into a vortex of hellfire. It was shortly blown away by a great gale of wind. After it cleared I realized the gale was coming from Ikkaku!

He was swinging his arms wildly as he wielded a gargantuan guillotine-like blade with a dragon engraved in the center. It also had two other blades of the same size with red poofy things separating the blades from their handles. All of it was connected by heavy black chains. His opponent shrugged, and turned back to me. Immediately afterward he blocked a direct attack from the huge dragon blade with is forearm. He then pushed me back a few yards, seconds before the other two blades came crashing down on top of him.

He succumbed to the force of the weapon, even though he was prepared for it. Ikkaku's victory was short lived however, for the foe burst from underneath the ground next to me.

"Who the hell are you?" Ikkaku said irritably. His opponent shook his head before he spoke.

"My identity would have been revealed by now if it had not been for you my friend." He declared. Ikkaku raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?" he asked quizzically.

"If it hadn't been for your barrier that you set up to block sensing of Reiatsu," he explained, "The Gotei 13 would be all over this place."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Ikkaku asked sarcastically, "you'll be dead before they'll get the slightest whisk of your Reiatsu."

"Oh?" he smirked wickedly, he then dashed with unreal speed towards Ikkaku, and it was like he was next to me one second, then Ikkaku the next. However, when he arrived to strike, his attack was blown away by one swing of the huge dragon blade. The opponent flew backwards and recovered his balance in midair. "If you must know my name…" he sighed, "It's Arturo Plateado." Ikkaku scoffed.

"Figured as much," he mumbled, "You an Espada?"

"No," he said snickering, "I'm a Facion member of an elite Ex Espada-ranked Arrancar."

"Really?" asked Ikkaku as he extended an eyebrow. "Just what do you mean by an **Ex** Espada-Ranked Arrancar?"

"Did you really think we'd still be working for Aizen?"Arturo Mocked.

"So it's true then." Ikkaku mumbled. "Well then what are you part of?"

"'We' are called 'The Stained,'" He revealed, "We are just a dark spot on the spiritual plane, begging to be bleached out, instead of being dim-witted and staying with Aizen, some of us defected."

"Defected?" he said laughably.

"I came here to kill this boy." He lifted his left arm to point at me. Ikkaku looked at him quizzically.

"Him? He doesn't have any Reiatsu." Arturo's head turned to him sharply. He shot a look at the orb levitating a few meters above us. He pulled out his sword for a split second and sliced the air, causing a red energy projectile to burst from the blade, slicing the orb in two. Ikkaku flinched as the purple barrier collapsed around us. Arturo took this split second chance to materialize next to me.

I glanced over at Ikkaku, who was on his knees breathing heavily before I realized Arturo was there. He got up and picked up the dragon blade, the red dragon was now crimson all the way across. He leaped into the air with the weapons and started heading for Arturo. Arturo just turned around raised a hand and a red X of condensed energy formed and caused Ikkaku to land short is it slammed into him in mid-air. He turned back to me, his face recomposed. "Very well," he said with a deep sigh, "I'll just have to take you to see Jack… won't that be fun?" he asked tiredly and with annoyance. He approached me and picked me up off the ground by the back of my collar as he started walking.

He looked back to see Ikkaku coming at him again with the two smaller blades. Arturo simply threw me in the air, and bent his back toward the back to dodge a scissor attack from Ikkaku. After Ikkaku missed he immediately dropped down to the dirt. Arturo looked at him with oddity. He looked forward to see the dragon guillotine blade slam into his face as he flew through the air and crashed into some nearby brush. Ikkaku sighed and relaxed on the ground. Then I realized I was falling. So I ended up falling on Ikkaku, he coughed up blood as I hurried off of him.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked rhetorically, "Get your ass outta here!" I didn't know what else to do, so I ran. I ran as fast as I could.


	6. Requiem of the Mind

The Requiem of the Mind's Eye

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I'd barely made halfway through the street before I could almost feel him right behind me. I stopped at a merchant carrying a few swords.

"Excuse me sir," I began hurriedly, "Could I borrow one of your swords?" he looked at me with oddity.

"I suppose I could lend an old one to you…" he said long-windedly

"Yes!" I cried to salvation, "Thank you sir!"

"That'll be 600 yen." He said simply. I suddenly gulped. Yen? I thought absently. What the hell is Yen?

"I'll um…pay you later," I lied through my teeth.

I turned around. Arturo was zipping up and down the rooftops, as he landed at least twenty yards away from me; he smirked triumphantly then began walking towards me slowly. I turned to the merchant with pleads of sorrow.

"Please! It's a matter of life and death!" I begged.

"Oh really?" he asked with a smile of sarcasm. Then I heard commotion from back behind me.

"Hey there pal!" said a voice. "We don't take likely to unidentified soul reapers.", Said an old man about to be murdered. Arturo flicked his wrist, seconds later a cloud of blood red mist burst in the air. He continued to walk my way. By now the bustling streets had quickly turned into a ghost town.

"Here! Take this!" the old merchant hollered, as he threw a sword at my feet while he fled. I quickly picked the weapon up, but it when I tried to unsheathe the sword, it would not obey. It was rusted shut. Well that's just my luck, I thought, but it would have to make due.

As soon as Arturo was close enough he lashed out with a quick attack. I tried to block but when the attack hit the sheath of the sword, I only flew backward. I picked myself off the ground. I looked up; Arturo was smiling down at me maliciously. I was defenseless; there was nothing I could do.

I felt his cold, lifeless hand clasp around my throat. I tried to pull away, but his other hand wrapped around my arm like steel. He leaned down closer to my face.

"I think we both know you deserve far worse than this." He hissed. He pulled slowly, ripping my arm clean off. Before I even fully registered what he had done, I saw the blood explode from my shoulder. I grasped it quickly, still holding my sword. By now I was in unimaginable pain. I didn't know who I was, or where I came from, nor did I know why this man wanted to kill me as bad as he did.

"Whoops, guess I don't know my own strength!" he said as he laughed at my suffering. I'm powerless, there is nothing I can do, I thought, succumbing to my fate. Yes there is, said a voice, by that time I was about to slip out of consciousness but the voice seemed to command me to awaken. I paused, unsure what to do, I couldn't speak, and even if I could Arturo, who had let me fall to the cold, hard ground and was doing something strange a few yards away, might to something even worse to me.

He won't harm you anymore if you do as I tell you, I heard the voice again. It seemed to be coming from inside my head. Hello? I thought, thinking this was probably a form of me going into shock, and that the voice was a figment of my imagination. I heard the voice chuckle, it was male, and sounded so familiar. I assure you I am as real as they come, he said, There is no time to explain however, so listen to Me. I listened intently.

I want you to close your eyes, and relax. I blinked in bewilderment. It's a little hard to relax when you have a psycho killer, who just tore your arm off, right next to you. He will not harm you as long as you do as I say. Reminding myself caused the pain to return, as I gasped from the agony. This voice was rushed now, Hurry! If you don't want to die, I suggest you relax! I sighed deeply, trying to be calm, I closed my eyes and tried to regulate my breathing. I hadn't noticed what Arturo had been doing, but he was apparently finished. I heard his footsteps shift in my direction; slowly I heard his feet leaving and then meeting the ground as he walked in my direction. Nevertheless I was calm, I fazed him out, I suddenly didn't care what happened to me or anyone else, I didn't care if I lived.

Suddenly I felt a strange feeling in my head; it was like I was falling backwards. Suddenly my body didn't feel like my own as it stood up to meet Arturo. He was frowning down at me, annoyed that I still had some will to fight. As my body stood up my eyes looked into Arturo's, and at that moment, just for a flash, I remembered everything.


	7. Awakend

Awakened

I saw flashes of the past, but was it my past? I caught glimpses of a man's life, in love, danger, and fear. None of this made sense to me; I wasn't recognizing any of it. One was of the same man grabbing a large, double blade sword with a black hilt with a white seal where the hilt met the blade. He was marveling at it like this was his first time seeing it. Next I saw him handling the sword with great skill as he fought against an army of beast looking creatures with white masks. Finally I saw him with speed, impossible for me to follow, as he appeared behind a familiar man who was wearing his brown hair down in a shaggy fashion, and wore glasses with a soul reaper kimono with a white coat on top of it, but the opponent blocked the attack easily.

Excuse me, I heard the voice say; This is a perfect opportunity for you to learn some moves and techniques you can use for self defense when you have an unexpected encounter like this. Ok, I thought. Concentrate, try to free yourself from physical restrictions, and imagine yourself floating in water. I did so, time seemed to stop as I did this, before I knew it I felt myself slipping from my body, and continued into the air. I saw an averaged sized man with black spiky hair and a dirty white robe. He only had one arm, and where his other arm should be, blood had soaked the robe. Was that…me?

Yes, his eyes looked up at me, I am the only one who can see you, as you are only separating yourself from the body to get a different point of view, your still part of you, your just not in your body, but soon you will return. He explained. I could still feel like I was in my body, I looked down, I looked like I was in my real body, but I was floating in mid air. I saw my arm on the ground, I went over to it and tried to pick it up, but my hands slipped through it like it wasn't there. So it was true, surprisingly, I didn't really find it all that hard to believe, suddenly I realized I had bigger things to worry about. I turned around to see Arturo and my body, both staring each other down. Wait a minute, I thought, who are you? I am you, What? Or rather, a fragment of you. I don't understand, I thought confused, I'll explain later. I supposed I'd just have to wait. I saw Arturo, his expression unchanged, still looking at my body. What should I call you? I asked quickly. Shukei. he said after a pause.

Alright Shukei, I hope you have a plan. Of course I do, he said, I noticed that all this time his voice was always somewhat cold and sounded quite neutral, Like he wasn't fazed by this whole situation, even the fact that he didn't have a right arm anymore.

"I suggest you get on the ground before you stay there forever." said Arturo in a threatening tone.

"And I suggest you at least put your guard up before you eat your words." said Zen in a cool tone. Arturo's face twisted in disgust.

"I don't even care what happens to you anymore; I tried to take you alive." He said with annoyance, as he pulled out his sword. "How about this, I'll humor you; I'll give you twenty seconds to pick up your pathetic weapon so you at least have a fighting chance." I could see Shukei gleam for a second before walking over to the old tarnished sword and picking it up. He examined the sword with great intensity.

After gazing at it for a while, he turned back to Arturo.

"How long?" he asked. Arturo looked somewhat startled.

"How long what?" his voice seemed to have lost its confident tone.

"How long have I been dead?" Arturo was silent for a minute or two, and then he replied:

"A little over a century" he replied. Shukei sighed deeply. One hundred years? Looks like there's no chance I have of returning to the life I once had. Strangely I felt sad. I could never go back to the life I never even knew about. How strange I must be.

"Arturo," He said regaining his composure. "This is your end." He squeezed the hilt of the sword. I could feel the air getting heavy. Arturo flinched.

"So you figured out how to build up your reiatsu again, eh?" he scoffed. "It's still not enough! I can withstand an attack far more powerful that!"

"This isn't meant for you," Shukei said. The air fluctuated. The rusty sword began to glow. Shukei then shoved the sword into the ground. He slowly started to pull out the sword, Then with a mighty tug, the pulled the sword out of the ground. I gasped, the sword was different now, instead of being rusty and thin, it was gleaming and thick. More than that, it looked exactly like the sword from the memory flash. How did he do that? Shukei twirled the sword with great skill, and gave it a few practice thrusts. Arturo was clenching. I knew I was about to see an intense battle.


	8. The Battle

The Battle

I saw Arturo begin the first attack. He charged toward Shukei with his unbelievable speed. Shukei merely blocked the attack. Arturo, who had not expecting this, flew to the side a few yards before regaining his balance in the air again. He scoffed, probably taking it as a fluke. He had his sword out, but it was in an idle position, he wasn't taking this fight seriously. Shukei's face was still completely emotionless.

Arturo began to round back for another attack, but it looked like Shukei had expected this from him. Shukei jumped to Arturo's level and, with the sword in hand, got a direct slash to Arturo's lower torso. Arturo coughed blood with surprise. He recoiled clumsily as he put a hand on his stomach in shock at Shukei's battle skill. Before he could fully recover, Shukei lunged with shocking speed and tried to get another good hit on him. However, Arturo had caught on; he dodged Shukei's attack and continued to back away. Shukei stared at him, his eyes cold like steel. They were not eyes of a man seeking vengeance, nor were they eyes of a man wanting to win or lose. They were just there, like a black abyss where no one ever was or ever will be.

Arturo spoke,

"Who are you?" he asked angrily. Shukei's face remained placid.

"Alastor Shukei." He said back. Arturo's face twisted with anger.

"You lie," Arturo said through clenched teeth. "You are not he!" Shukei said nothing. For a moment there was dead silence. Arturo then raised his sword toward Shukei. "Alastor Shukei is no more." He declared. There was silence, and then Shukei spoke.

"You're a fool." He said. Arturo didn't like that; he swung his sword in an offensive position.

"You'll pay for that you worm!" he yelled. He was standing a fair distance away from Shukei, even if he started his attack, Shukei would see it coming. I then noticed how his sword was beginning to illuminate a bright red. He lashed out with his blade, when he did; the light left the sword and became a high-speed projectile. It was streaking toward Shukei in crescent bow of red energy, as if his sword had left a gash in the air.

When the attack reached Shukei he put up his sword in a vertical style with his only hand. The red arc hit the blade dead on, pushing Shukei back as his feet sank into the dirt. Shukei then pushed on the sword, the action resulted in the red arc splitting in two, missing Shukei and colliding into the ground. Unexpectedly however, the attack didn't end with just dissolving harmlessly; it exploded with tremendous force, knocking Shukei off his feet and onto his stomach.

Arturo wasted no time, in a flash he was standing above Shukei.

"To think, a flea like you thought you could beat me?" he snickered. He raised his sword above Shukei's throat. Before he could finish him off however, his snickering stopped. Arturo looked down; he was surprised to notice the tip of Shukei's sword impaled in torso. Blood hurled from his mouth. He saw Shukei, several yards away pointing in this direction. "So fast…" he trailed off.

"Hado number four, Byakurai." Shukei declared, a bolt of lightning shot from his index finger, hitting the blade of his own sword. Arturo screamed with excruciation while the lightning current traveled through Shukei's sword. The pain must've been unimaginable. He fell over on his side, twitching violently. Shukei slowly walked toward the wriggling Arturo and crouched next to him.

"I understand that technique of yours now," Shukei said to him. "Combining your reiatsu with your cero capabilities, you channeled your attack through your Zanpakuto." He continued. He pulled the sword out of Arturo, "Now it's my turn to finish you," he said. He stabbed his sword in the ground and pointed this index finger at Arturo. He began another incantation, but before he could finish, the sky ripped open.

Shukei turned to see it a moment too late. The portal shot out a sleek, black sword blade, stabbing Shukei in the shoulder just as he tried to dodge. It didn't seem like he acknowledged that the cutting edge of the sword had stabbed him. Arturo was already up and staring down Shukei. Shukei stared back with the sword still lodged in this shoulder. I noticed Arturo's torso had already healed. He walked slowly toward Shukei with his sword in hand. He stopped about two feet away from Shukei. He opened up a part of his uniform to reveal a colored tattoo of a Snowdrop Flower.

"You've been holding back," Shukei sighed.

"Really now," Arturo said sarcastically. "Did you really think that in a hundred years I wouldn't have gotten any stronger?" He waved a hand over the symbol, seconds later, the color drained from it until it was nothing but a transparent outline. Suddenly, giant bursts of reiatsu popped out of Arturo's back in the form of wings. He stood there looking like he had already won in front of the downed Shukei. The dark edge impaled in his shoulder must have had quite a grip on him. "So," Arturo began, "Any Last words?"

"Just one," Said Shukei as he held up his hand with his index finger pointing in the air, which was right above the blade in his shoulder. "Byakurai." Another bolt of lightning shot through the air, severing the black edge from the portal it was still connected to. Shukei followed by taking one step toward Arturo and hitting him dead-on with a single punch and the same time saying the word: "Ikkotsu."

Arturo didn't realize what happened until he was hit. His arm had literally been blown off by the force from Shukei's punch. He flew backwards, ramming into the nearby residential area. He quickly picked himself up from the rubble, clutching his arm and clenching his teeth at Shukei. His eyes grew wide as he saw Shukei pointing at him again, this time with his index and middle finger.

"Hado sixty three," Arturo gasped and struggled to get away, but it was of no use. Shukei finished the spell, "Raikōhō." A huge blast of yellow lightning erupted from Shukei's fingertips, engulfing Arturo in a flash of yellow light.

After the dust cleared, Shukei stepped forward, searching for remains.

He looked up to see a perturbed Arturo glaring down at him.

"It can't be," he mumbled, "Your memory was erased!" he clenched his teeth. Shukei seemed to look at him strangely with a cocked eyebrow.

"Not erased," he explained with a neutral tone, "Only split." Arturo said nothing. I heard something far away, like a shuffling of feet, struggling to get up. I followed, only to discover that it was the third seat of division eleven; Ikkaku Madarame covered in blood. His giant weapon was gone; it had reverted back into a normal katana, He was holding it in his left hand. He was watching the destructive clash from afar while propping himself up on a nearby house. His uniform was torn, the top was gone.

His breath wavered and his eyes were wide with shock. I heard Arturo from behind me.

"I do not care how you got it back," I turned back to the fight, Arturo was now in the air, "My orders were to capture you, alive or not."

"Orders?" Shukei cocked another eyebrow.

"You needn't worry about that," he scoffed, "Your time in this world runs short!" his greenish-purple energy wings seemed to vibrate and change into a strong red and black shade. The hole in his chest also seemed to glow a burning ruby. "Prepare to welcome a world of eternal darkness," he grunted, trying to contain the power he was about to unleash. "Rage!" a giant blast of red spirit energy erupted from his chest. Shukei put his sword in front of him defensively. It was no use however; he was overcome by Arturo's incredible attack.

The attack ended. I immediately started to search for Shukei. Soon I found him. He was standing in a giant crater still in his defensive position. The top of the robe he was wearing had been incinerated to reveal his various muscles. He put down his arm and ascended from the crater into the air. Arturo recoiled violently. His hands were bloody and his hair was ragged. "I will not let you live!" he screamed, "You will die!" the wings of energy started to shrink, and as they did, the hole in his chest grew larger. His face was contorted as veins started to pop from his neck and forehead. Soon his wings had completely receded. However, the hole in his chest had grown five times in size, and had been transformed into a radiant void of reiatsu. His pupil's had completely disappeared, he no longer had control of his power. Shukei reacted quickly. He had noticed Ikkaku and knew what would happen if the blast hit. He vanished into the air and then reappeared next to the battered Ikkaku. He picked him up, and threw him a few yards away. It was too late however; Arturo had Shukei in his sights. Shukei saw it coming and tried to evade by jumping high into the air. He did this too soon however, Arturo seemed to delay the blast until he was in midair. He cried out, "Gran Rage Cero!" Then he fired a giant green blast of energy at Shukei, but miscalculated, and suffered missing his only chance for a direct hit. However, Arturo's blast did hit Shukei.

Shukei's complete lower half was decimated from the attack; however his wound had self cauterized from the intensity of Arturo's cero. Shukei fell, like a ragdoll, back down to earth. He hit the ground hard on his back, looking toward the sky. His sword was impaled in the ground a few meters away from him. Not that it mattered, with an injury like that, he'd be dead soon. But then… what would happen to me? What about Arturo? I looked back at Arturo. His enlarged hollow hole was now bleeding, and his skin was pale. He too fell out of the sky, landing on his stomach, his clothes soaking in his own blood.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence. The two warriors had fallen. Suddenly I heard a grunting noise from a ways behind me. It was Ikkaku. He had landed on a nearby building, and was now jumping down from the roof and onto the ground. His knees buckled under him as he fell to the ground. He slowly made his way to the fallen Shukei until he abruptly fell next to him. He snickered with fatigue.

"You ok?" he smiled. Shukei had his eyes closed. Ikkaku grunted as he reached out an arm to pat Shukei. As soon as his hand made contact, Shukei's eyes flew open, and he started to cough softly. Ikkaku heaved a big sigh before collapsing on the ground, whispering in relief. A single black swallow-tail butterfly fluttered nearby. Shukei noticed it immediately, holding a hand to it. It softly landed on the top of his hand. I could hear what it said;

"Requesting status report on large reiatsu fluctuations in the area." Shukei seemed to respond to it mentally, saying;

Suffered casualties, requesting medical assistance, send additional backup. The Butterfly flew away in response. Shukei fell back with a sigh. His eyes were faint, but he seemed almost determined to stay conscious. He struggled to move, but when he did; he buckled and fell to the ground again. Ikkaku said something to Shukei, but he didn't seem to notice. For at that moment, he saw a part of the sky separate, inviting a whole new form of reiatsu as a figure stepped from the rift and landed on the ground.


End file.
